“We are doing a lot of Latin comfort food, and elevating it using higher-end products,” says chef-owner Mario Santiago of his 14-year-old Pilsen mainstay. “I’ve had some training in country French (cooking), so all the sauces have a little French style to it.”

But the high-end beef, Santiago says, is what really distinguishes his restaurant.

The restaurant has a long relationship with Allen Brothers — the branded steaks are prominently mentioned on the menu and the illuminated outdoor sign — going back to the late chairman Bobby Hatoff (who died in 2012).

“He’d come in for dinner, other customers didn’t know him,” Santiago says. “He’d pick up a few checks, talk to people, even go inside and say hi to the dishwashers. Who does that? And then he started sponsoring me at Chicago Gourmet. They put us on the map.”

Santiago keeps steak prices down by offering smaller steaks — most are 12 ounces or smaller — though beef lovers can call ahead for custom cuts.

Back on the Latino side of the menu, there are fun dishes like the pina de playa, a grilled pineapple half filled with shrimp, scallops, Spanish rice and chipotle-coconut sauce. The chicken con mole — chicken smothered in a complex, fruity-yet-rich mole — comes from co-chef Lupe Aguilar, working off her mom’s Michoacan recipe. And no dinner order is complete without a side of truffled mac and cheese (try the chorizo version) and the white-chocolate flan, made famous by Art Smith in “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.”

The dining room is comfy and pleasantly crowded, but when the weather cooperates, the place you want to sit is the shaded outdoor deck.

The brunch menu is highlighted by dishes such as huevos a la Michoacana (twin masa boats with the poached eggs and two sauces) and huevos hollandaise, the eggs served with chipotle hollandaise, chorizo potato latkes and smoked salmon. “It’s my Jewish-Mexican version,” Santiago jokes.